The It Takes Two Test

It takes two ... to tango, anyway. And for many other things as well. In fact, there are twosomes all over the place. This test is all about folks well known because of a certain duality.

1

"It Takes Two" is a famous soul duet that was a huge hit for:

Sam Cooke and Mary Wells

Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston

Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

Smokey Robinson and Tammi Terrell

2

Frank Sinatra made a career comeback in the '90s with a pair of "Duets" albums. (Of course, he wasn't actually in the studio with any of his partners, who recorded their parts at a different place and time, but hey, it's not exactly news Sinatra was an asshole.) Which of the following singers did NOT record with him on one or the other of these albums?

Celia Cruz

Gloria Estefan

Julio Iglesias

Anton Carlos Jobim

3

In the aftermath of Sinatra's success, a slew of other "elder statesman" musicians also made similar albums, working with an eclectic group of artists. Which of the following did NOT jump on this bandwagon?

Tony Bennett

Little Richard

Willie Nelson

Carlos Santana

4

Some show-biz partnerships lasted longer than a single song. For instance, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers created movie magic by dancing together in a series of films. (As Katharine Hepburn famously observed, "Fred gave Ginger class, and Ginger gave Fred sex.") How many films did they make together?

5

10

15

20

5

Bing Crosby made a few films himself -- often playing a show biz character. In fact, he had a whole series of different costars, each of whom played his show-biz partner in song and dance performances within the movie. Which of these did NOT costar with Bing?

Fred Astaire

Bob Hope

Danny Kaye

Frank Sinatra

6

Popular music has brought us many pairs of singing siblings -- and others who claimed to be siblings. Of the following four duos, which pair was really related?

The Everly Brothers

Paul and Paula

The Righteous Brothers

The Thompson Twins

7

Of course, not everyone who performs with a partner actually needs a second person to do so -- sometimes actors play both halves of a pair of twins. Sitcoms and soap operas have both used this gimmick. Which of these actors has NOT played her own twin?

Patty Duke

Anne Heche

Lisa Kudrow

Susan Lucci

8

There have also been some serious actors in serious films who have played their own twin. Which of the following actors has NOT played his own twin in a movie?

Nicolas Cage

Leonardo DiCaprio

Jeremy Irons

Al Pacino

9

Sometimes real people do have twins -- for instance, three of the following four people do. Which one does NOT?

Mario Andretti

Jerry Falwell

Walter Mondale

Kiefer Sutherland

10

Sometimes both members of a pair of twins achieve fame. Which of the following pairs of famous siblings are NOT twins?

Maurice and Robin Gibb (The BeeGees)

Lillian and Dorothy Gish (silent screen actresses)

Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (columnists)

Anthony and Peter Schaefer (playwrights)

11

Of course, the most famous twins of all are the original Siamese twins, Barnum performers and slave-owning patriarchs of the 19th century. Their last name was Bunker; their first names were:

Chang and Eng

Dong and Han

Ming and Tang

Yan and Song

12

Another kind of pair is a married couple. Some marriages work out; some don't. Here are four notoriously short marriages: which lasted the longest?

Cher and Greg Allman

Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman

Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine

Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson

13

"If at first you don't succeed..." can be a motto for marriage as well. Three of the four couples here married each other more than once; which of the following couples got it right the first time?

Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy

Don Johnson and Melanie Griffin

14

Not only spouses and siblings live together; sometimes people share space just to save some money. Three of the following four odd couples were, in fact, roommates, at least briefly. Which were NOT?

Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh

Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche

Wally Cox and Marlon Brando

Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones

15

Other pairings are all business -- or politics, or crime. Let's look at some of those. For instance, every US school child knows the 19th-century political slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and most would at least guess it had something to do with a presidential campaign. Correct on that, but too easy for this test! Tyler is John Tyler, who was the VP candidate; who was "Tippecanoe" at the top of the ticket?

Benjamin Harrison

William Henry Harrison

James Polk

Martin Van Buren

16

Leopold and Loeb were a notorious young pair who engaged in a thrill killing in the '20s. Which famous director based a film on their story?

David Cronenberg

Jonathan Demme

Alfred Hitchcock

Oliver Stone

17

Marx and Engels cowrote "The Communist Manifesto," which was first published in London in 1848. In what language was this first edition published?

English

German

Russian

Esperanto

18

Stanley and Livingstone were a famous pair of explorers; famous for, if nothing else, Stanley's teddibly English greeting to the latter: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." Why had Stanley met up with Livingstone?

They were supposed to travel together, but Stanley missed the boat and arrived in Cairo six months after Livingstone.

He was sent by the expedition's sponsors with additional supplies.

He was a reporter hired to find the explorer, when it was feared he was lost.

Coincidence. They were exploring separately.

19

Some partners are also brothers -- like the Wright Brothers (first in flight and all that). Another pair of brothers famous in aviation history were the:

Boeings (jets)

Montgolfiers (hot-air balloons)

Sikorskys (helicopters)

Zeppelins (blimps)

20

Speaking of aviation history, NASA's Gemini program was so named because two astronauts traveled on each mission. Which of the following famous astronauts did NOT fly on a Gemini mission?

Buzz Aldrin

Neil Armstrong

John Glenn

Gus Grissom

21

The Gemini these flights were named after were the twins in the zodiacal constellation. These twins were:

Castor and Pollux

Damon and Pythias

Galatea and Pygmalion

Romulus and Remus

22

Proctor and Gamble is a major corporation selling all kinds of consumer goods. They got their start back before the Civil War, and introduced Ivory, their first big success, in the 1880s. Of the following four P&G products, which was introduced first?

Charmin toilet paper

Crisco shortening

Pampers diapers

Tide detergent

23

"Soap operas" were so named because they were originally sponsored by soap and detergent companies like Proctor and Gamble. Which of these soaps of yore was NOT sponsored by P&G?

Another World

The Doctors

The Edge of Night

Search for Tomorrow

24

Elsewhere in daytime TV -- game shows. Some of the best were Goodson-Todman productions. Which of the following was NOT?

Beat the Clock

The Match Game

The $25,000 Pyramid

What's My Line

25

Robert Louis Stevenson created one of the greatest pairs of literature: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The brilliant Dr. Jekyll developed a potion that transformed him into the evil Mr. Hyde. How does the story end?

Dr. Jekyll destroyed all the potion and Mr. Hyde was never heard from again